Bumblefoot

We did our second round of rooster slaughtering this weekend. This time we decided to pre-brine the chickens.

Just kidding! That's Speckles in her foot bath. We noticed her limping and when we checked her foot, it was a bit swollen and there was this scab on it. 

Google to the rescue, again. This is called Bumblefoot and it's a staph infection that originates from a cut or scrape. Untreated it can get really bad and spread to the chicken's tendons and bones. Luckily we caught it early, so a soak in epsom salts, removal of the scab and then bandaging with antibiotic ointment should do the trick.

Speckles is such a good chicken - she fell asleep in her foot bath. She wasn't sure what to make of her bandage, though.

Zebra Head is the lucky rooster who gets to hang around. Abby wasn't about to let him near the carcasses in the ice bath, though. Disturbingly, all of the chickens would have been happy to indulge in cannibalism.